Shane Filan said the notion of a ûduet with Jackson had come from their manager Louis Walsh.

"The idea to do a single with Michael Jackson came from Louis Walsh who met up with an agent about three months ago in Germany," he said, adding it was a 50/50 chance whether it would go ahead.

"It would be this cool thing to do, we are all big fans of Michael Jackson."

We know at the scrag-end of a career that's gone on too long, a lack of ideas can sometimes be masked by a stunt, but even so. And, no surprises here, the idea is to do a ballad "rather than an uptempo song."